Paul Robinette quotes from Law & Order

Docket #51423. The People vs. Marian Borland and Randall Borland. The charge is murder in the se ... What's happening? Didn't I already see this case on my docket?

Robinette

People's motion charges against a previous defendant were dismissed, Your Honor. The People regret their error.

Regret? We're talking about murder, Mr. Robinette. You oughta publish an apology in The Times. How do the defendants plead?

Not guilty.

Not guilty.

I'll hear a few spirited words on the subject of bail. [to the defense attorney] Leonard, it's nice to see you. Please be brief.

Thank you, Judge. Nice to see you, too. My clients are not a flight risk. They're bound to the community, and any high bail would be a hardship.

Mr. Robinette?

Robinette

The People request $50,000 on each defendant. Flight is not an issue, but the severity of the crime...

Go no further. When you're right, you're right. And, Leonard, he's right. This is Murder Two. 50,000 each defendant.

Robinette

Liz. Is she all right?

Logan

She's a psychologist. If anybody's trained to handle it, she is.

Robinette

Nobody trains you to be a victim.

Schiff

Yes? [Listens] Uh-huh? [Continues] Not an accident? [Continues] Thank you. [Hangs up] The gun dealer was in the yard at Rikers; had his throat cut. The victim's mother was thrown out a third-storey window.

Robinette

What about the little girl?

Schiff

She was picked up after school by her uncle.

She doesn't have an uncle.

Robinette

The defendant savagely murdered an elderly woman, Your Honor.

Wait, wait, wait. It says here Mrs. Spiegelman was 61.

Robinette

That's correct, Your Honor.

At my 61st birthday, you were cramming for a torts exam. I'd advise you to choose your adjectives a little more courteously, counselor.

Robinette

The People request bail of $500,000.

My client can hardly afford cab fare to Brooklyn, your honor. Why not make it a million?

Why not? [laughs] And they say the elderly lose their sense of humor. [laughs again] Bail is set at 250, cash or bond.

Where'd they raise you, Mr. Robinette? Scarsdale?

Robinette

Harlem.

Never would have guessed. You want my wife in jail? What can jail do to her? She has nothing left. She won't even go to church.

Robinette

You may not believe this, but I'm truly sorry for what happened to your family. But you want us to bend the law. And we both know what it's like when there's one law for black and another for white. It was no good fifty years ago, it's no good now.

You think the system's gonna change? You think we're gonna be equal? Call me when your kids grow up. Tell me how they're doing. The system's been against us for a long time. Maybe right now, it's gotta bend the other way.

Ben, I'd love to stay and discuss altruism with you, but I'm late for a charity dinner at the Plaza. There's still some tickets available. 500 bucks a plate.

Robinette

And every penny of it tax deductible.

So because of the bigots, any Black criminal has a ready-made excuse?

Paul Robinette

Not an excuse. A mitigating factor.

McCoy

You're a long way from the district attorney's office.

Paul Robinette

Ben Stone once said I'd have to decide if I was a lawyer who is black or a black man who is a lawyer. All those years, I thought I was the former. All those years, I was wrong.